John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I have a "vocal booth" with the following specs:

It's 4x6' and about 8 feet high. The floor has ben raised about 1 inch and filled in with sand, then plywood was placed over this. The walls are made of drywall and have 6 inches worth of regular insulation stuffed into a 3 inch area surrounding all walls except one wall (which is basically underground, but that has panelling instead of drywall). The door is cheap, I think hollow core, with thin plexiglass/plastic in the middle for a window.

My question is this. What kind of materials (cheap as possible) should I use to minimize the reflections/reverb in the room and make it sound professional? I'd also like to use this room for amps and maybe even test some acoustic guitar in there. Right now I have some cheap foam from bedding and a lot of extra carpet.

What can I do?! I was thinking Sheetblok on the walls/door, seal the door off, then add plywood over that, then add the bed foam over that. Lastly I would cut out a carpet to roll down over the floor, but not make it permanant. Any suggestions?

I realize you're on a budget, but bedfoam and carpet are two of the worst things you could do to your space - both will suck out the highs without helping the "boxy" sound of too much midrange, and the foam isn't fire retardant without treatment that costs as much as rigid fiberglass insulation.

Here's a link to sources for the right stuff - some cloth (and garbage bags to cover the batts with under the cloth) and you're there -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1643

Your door, if it's hollow core, won't stop much of anything (probably around 20 dB isolation at voice frequencies, and about 5 dB at bass frequencies - here's a link to discussion/drawings on door options -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1662

Hope that helped... Steve

thank you very much